I'm With Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks

Quick Overview

For most people, weight loss is spurred by a pair of tight pants or a photo that shows one too many chins. But Edward Ugel isn’t most people. Ugel was forced to lose weight after his wife recorded him snoring—a sound so deafeningly horrible that his “turncoat” doctor made him wear a CPAP machine to sleep every night.

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That’s when Ugel, weighing in at 263 pounds (or, as he likes to describe it; 119 kilograms), realized he had to lose 50 pounds in order to live (literally) and sleep like a normal guy, and so his wife could see his face when she refused to have sex with him.

I’m with Fatty is Ugel’s honest and wickedly funny chronicle of a father, husband, and all-around-food-obsessed man as he attempts to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks. A foodie who can’t remember the last time he exercised but can describe every bite of his last Chinese takeout meal, Ugel is a typical guy. But I’m with Fatty is a far cry from a typical weight-loss memoir, a category usually reserved for perky, inspiring fatties-turned-aerobics instructors who want to sell their brand of you-can-do-it.

For Ugel, losing 50 pounds isn’t about looking good at the beach. It’s about trying to save his life and figuring out how to live in a world without dim sum, smoked Italian meats, and the daily pleasure of cooking whatever, and however, he wants. Ugel merges this love of food with his all-male sensibility as he sets off on a yearlong journey to answer the questions, “Where does one draw the line between being a lifelong foodie and a food addict?” and “Can I really live without bacon?”